Pages

Sunday, 16 June 2013

E3 2013

So
the Electronics Expo 2013 has happened and it might have changed
everything. I’ll explain how shortly, but first you need to know where
my thoughts were, going into the event.

In
fact, let’s go back a ways. Like millions of others, I had a
PlayStation and then a PS2. I had no reason to believe, when the 7th generation loomed on the horizon, that I wouldn’t be continuing the trend with a PS3.

But
things started to unravel for Sony. Mixed messages on subjects like
backwards compatibility and then the ridiculous price tag of nearly
£500.

Then
I saw Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter on the Xbox 360 and the deal was
sealed. I jumped ship and spent the following six years in gaming
heaven. Despite a rocky start with the whole “Red Lights of Death”
debacle, the Xbox went from strength to strength, while the PS3
floundered under poor framerates, badly designed online mechanics and
lacklustre exclusives.

Ultimately, the PS3 sold well, but largely due to its Blu-ray drive, with software sales remaining heavily in the 360s favour.

And
so when another generation of consoles crested the hill, again there
was no reason to believe I would be breaking from a brand that had made
the last six years such a joy.

Then
the rumours started to circulate. From dark corners of the Internet we
heard about the “Xbox 720” and how it would require an Internet
connection at all times or it would cease to work. It would block
pre-owned games. It would monitor your every waking thought through the
Kinect sensor. It would have an affair with your wife. It would watch
your dreams.

Even
those of us with sane heads on our shoulders couldn’t help but feel a
little worried. Rumours have to start somewhere after all. So it was
with nervous anticipation that we all tuned in to see a “New Generation
Revealed” at the Xbox Reveal event in May, to witness Microsoft quell
all the rumours and blow our minds.

The
console was revealed and while not to everyone’s tastes, I thought it
looked great. As did Kinect and I was pleased to see that while the
controller had been changed enough to look and feel fresh, it was still
very much the Xbox controller recognised around the world as the best
design out there.

But
the rest of the conference focused on the console’s capacity for
television and films; for Skype calls and switching channels. All nice
features no doubt, but the Internet immediately erupted at the distinct
lack of games.

At
this point, I wasn’t too worried. With E3 just weeks away, I knew they
were taking the opportunity to divide their conferences – using the
reveal as a platform to showcase the entertainment and connectivity
aspects and use the Expo for the games. If only they had mentioned this
plan in the first place, a lot of the disappointment seen on social
networks and blogs could have been avoided.

With many questions still unanswered, Microsoft looked to clarify their policies ahead of E3:

The console will support trade-ins, but only if publishers allow it for their games.You can lend a game to a friend, but only once, and only if they’ve been on your friend list for at least thirty days.

The
console needs to connect to the Internet once every 24 hours to update
game licences etc, meaning you can play single or local multiplayer
games for a day, but if you haven’t connected to the Internet by then,
the games will no longer work. You can, however, continue to watch TV
and Blu-rays.

Despite
noting great features such as being able to play your entire library of
games from the Cloud from any Xbox One console, the “clarifications”
only fuelled the fires of Internet opinion. To their credit, Microsoft
were at least sharing information, unlike Sony, who had been very quiet
since their PS4 announcement. Nevertheless, Xbox appeared to be shooting
themselves in the foot.

But
E3 arrived with the promise from Microsoft that this would be all about
games, games, games; and indeed it was. The Xbox briefing was
wall-to-wall games, opening with Sony stalwart Metal Gear and showcasing
massive titles like Battlefield 4, Halo and Forza 5 and new exclusives
such as Ryse, Sunset Overdrive and Project Spark.

In
all, if was a fine briefing and went a long way to showing that Xbox
One was still very much a gaming platform. If the gamers could forgive
Microsoft’s weird restrictions, they would clearly find a happy home on
the Xbox One.

Then the PS4 happened.

For
the first hour, Sony’s briefing was your standard stuff, save for the
reveal of the console itself. Games, business jargon and buzzwords.

But then, in a flurry of punches to match any Ali threw at Foreman, Sony landed blows aimed directly at Microsoft.

First
they brought out a load of Indie developers and showed their support
for a corner of the industry many feel has been side-lined by Microsoft.

Then Jack Tretton stepped up and threw these haymakers:

The
PS4 will support used games. You can trade in at retail, sell to
another person, lend to a friend or keep the disc forever. It’s up to
you.

The
console will not require an Internet connection to play. If you play
single player games, they will not stop working if the console doesn’t
connect every 24 hours.

The console will cost £349. £80 cheaper than the Xbox One.

Sony
used the euphoria in the room to slip in the fact that to play online
with the PS4, you would now have to pay for PS Plus (bringing it in line
with Xbox Live’s subscription model), but nobody cared. They also went
on to show Bungie’s Destiny, which looked beautiful, but it didn’t
matter. The damage had already been done.

So where do I stand now on these consoles.

I
prefer the look of the Xbox One and they have a better range of
exclusives, but the idea of paying £429 for something with these
restrictive hoops to jump through is incredibly off-putting.

Sony’s
price tag is hard to ignore and they are winning popular opinion with
their focus on what the consumer wants, but are they innovating enough?
Haven’t they basically come out and said everything will stay the same,
the games will just look a bit prettier?

The
next few months will be crucial for Microsoft. I don’t think they will
adjust the price, but unfortunately I also think it isn’t in their
nature to do a u-turn on their policies. They believe their model will
work going into the future and they might be right, but a console needs
those early adopters and so far, they are turning away from the Xbox. But time will tell.......